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Lay May Have Tried to Mislead
The Public, Inquiry Memo Shows

By

John R. Emshwiller Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated Feb. 13, 2002 11:59 p.m. ET

Remarks by former Enron Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Kenneth Lay to a special internal investigative committee in January indicate that on at least two occasions he may have deliberately misled the public in order to keep the energy giant's problems from becoming known.

Mr. Lay admitted no wrongdoing in his Jan. 16 interview with an internal investigation committee set up by Enron's board. But his remarks show the company wasn't fully forthcoming about the reasons for the surprise resignation last August of then-Enron...